


searching for sparkles

by mustlovelance



Series: love me like you do [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Fluff, space mall shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-19 04:18:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11889843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mustlovelance/pseuds/mustlovelance
Summary: Allura just wants something sparkly. It’snota date, Lance—but it’s exactly what she needed.





	searching for sparkles

**Author's Note:**

> I listened to a lot of Ellie Goulding while I wrote this, haha. Thanks to [clionadraws](http://clionadraws.tumblr.com) for the lovely fanart!

Is it possible to feel musty on the inside? Allura, lying down with her chin propped up by her hands, pondered this as she watched the mice dance at the foot of her bed.  

 

Diplomacy had been less draining when she’d known that she could complain to her father about the ridiculousness of it all at the end of the day. She hadn’t expected to be doing this by herself until she was older, and even then, she’d expected her father to be there. Coran’s guidance was appreciated, but it wasn’t the same.

 

Allura thought back to her first encounter with the Balmera, in which her sincere words had convinced the Balmerans to live on. Early that afternoon, however, Allura had essentially recited a speech with no true vitality or originality to speak of. Although it had worked, it left her feeling unsettled.

 

Chulatt went off on his own dance sequence, wiggling his butt at her as he glanced over his shoulder with sparkling eyes. Allura couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the sight, covering her mouth with her hand.

 

“Oh, you’ve given me an idea!” Allura exclaimed. She slid off the bed and onto her feet. “I’ll take Lance with me to get something sparkly. Though I do hope he behaves himself…” She gave the mice a sideways glance. “What do you think?” There was a pause before all four of them nodded, giving various impressions of Lance, none of which included his more…flirtatious persona. It was one that she hadn’t seen lately, and she’d been glad for it.

 

“Well, at the very least, it will be entertaining,” she said, sighing softly as she stepped towards her closet. “And I can get out of these formal clothes and into something more comfortable…” Allura pulled open the closet and grimaced. “Perhaps something pink that doesn’t smell odd…”

 

Eventually, she and the mice decided on a simple pink sundress. 

 

–

 

“Lance.”

 

Allura braced herself as Lance turned his head. It always amazed her how much of the couch he could take up sprawled out like that. His legs were quite long.  

 

“Princess!” Lance’s cheeks were red, but his expression didn’t twitch in the way that warned for impending unnecessary comments. He sat upright and smiled at her. “More pink, huh? I guess it really is your color.” It was spoken with such sincerity that Allura felt her own face heating up. Before she could consider that further, Lance’s rambling voice interrupted her thoughts. “I mean—I know it’s uh. A color for…fallen warriors, and stuff. I’m not saying you look—it’s just. Uh. Nice.”

 

Allura smiled at him, shoulders relaxing.

 

“Pidge informed me that in your culture, _black_ is the color of mourning,” she said, hands clasped together in front of her. “Yet, sometimes humans wear black without intending such connotations, correct?” Lance nodded slowly. “Pink happens to be my favorite color. It was…it was my mother’s, as well.” Lance opened his mouth as if to say something, but Allura waved him off. “In any case, I wanted to ask if you would accompany me to the mall. Coran told me that there is one on Thaymia.”  

 

Lance blinked at her, pointing to himself.  

 

“ _"Me?"_ he asked. “You’re not gonna ask Keith?” Allura furrowed her brows.

 

“Why would I want to bring _Keith_?” she asked. “He clearly knows nothing about jewelry, even if you were to whack him on the head with some Pelarian earrings—which are very heavy, by the way.” She tilted her head at him. “Besides, _you_ were the one who offered to get me something sparkly, weren’t you?” 

 

“That I was!” Lance sprung up from the couch and walked over to her. He gave her a sheepish smile. “I…don’t actually have any money, though.”

 

“I assumed as much,” Allura said. She gestured towards her pocketbook. “This should be more than adequate for our purposes, if Coran’s information is correct.” Lance nodded, but he couldn’t quite meet her eyes as he shuffled his feet.

 

“Are you — is it just us?”

 

“This is not a date, Lance,” Allura said dryly, barely withholding a groan. Lance raised his hands and shook his head vigorously.

 

“Nonono, I just meant—I didn’t know why…”

 

“Do you have anything else planned, or can we go now?” She cast a meaningful look at the couch, noting the indent of Lance’s form on it, and looked back at Lance with an arched brow.  

 

“Even if I did, this sounds way more fun,” Lance said. Her gaze didn’t waver. “But, no, I was just gonna…meditate some more.”

 

“Meditate,” Allura repeated.

 

“…yeah?” 

 

Allura shook her head, but her lips twitched into a smile as she led them to the hangar where they kept the pods. When she caught a glimpse of his face, she was happy to see that he was smiling as well.  

 

–

 

The ride over had been awkward, with Lance’s eyes darting around every corner of the pod as he fidgeted. Once they were at the mall itself, he lost that restless edge.    

 

“So, what kinda jewelry are you looking for?” Lance asked, sauntering beside her. Allura cleared her throat. Whatever shampoo Lance used smelled wonderful this close, but she wasn’t about to mention that.

 

“Not earrings,” Allura said, reaching up to flick at one of hers. “I like these ones just fine. A necklace, perhaps… It might look good for the next meet—” She frowned, staring down at the floor as they walked.

 

“Hey, it’s just gotta look good for _you_ ,” Lance said. Allura looked up at that. “So, you want a sparkly necklace, eh?”

 

“Yes, that’s what I’m looking for.”

 

“And _how_ sparkly are we talking here? Blinding, subtle, something in between?” 

 

Allura smirked at him, pressing her index finger against her lips.

 

“Hmmm—blinding,” she said, using her best decision-maker voice. She stopped when she saw a sign for a jewelry shop. The selection in the window boasted a variety of products. “This… _ Blaire’s_ looks quite sparkly. We should try here.”

 

“Lead the way, princess.”

 

As soon as the two of them entered the store, Allura realized she may have made a mistake. The other aliens wandering around seemed to be in their tweens; they had that awkwardness to their movements that Allura remembered all too well. If she’d somehow managed to overlook the customers, she couldn’t have missed the tackiness of all the jewelry.

 

“Oh my god, Allura, you’ve _got_ to try this on!” Lance spun around and let her catch the quickest glimpse of a tiara before placing it on her head. Allura turned towards the nearest mirror and laughed. The tiara had _Princess_ written across it in bright pink capital letters and some fluff adorning the rim for reasons that neither aesthetics nor sensibilities could explain.  

 

“ _I love it_ ,” Allura murmured, striking her most regal pose. “Who would decline entrance into our coalition if I wore this?”

 

“Only idiots, obviously,” Lance said, already rummaging through the next section of jewelry. He pulled out several bracelets one by one and handed the pile off to her. “Here, try these too.” Allura slipped a few onto each wrist, shaking her hands to watch them sparkle in the fluorescent lighting.

 

“I’m going to be so sparkly, I may _actually_ blind someone,” she said. Every word felt like a struggle against laughter. She shook her hands again. “And they’re so noisy!”

 

“That’s the best part!” Lance insisted. “It’s like having a theme song of jangles.” He turned around to reveal a pair of giant heart-shaped blue sunglasses situated on his head. “So, how do I look?”

 

“Very cool,” she said, forcing a solemn tone even as her lips twitched.

 

“I think you mean _the coolest_.”

 

“I wouldn’t go _that_ far.”

 

“ _Fine_." Lance scurried off further into the store, with Allura chuckling into her hand as she followed him, jangling all the way. “Hey, these butterfly clips would look great in your hair! Which colors?”

 

“Pink and purple, but… don’t you mean pija’ans?” Allura tilted her head as she held out her hand for Lance to drop the clips into. “Why would I want pija’ans in my hair? What a strange design.” She studied her reflection, placing each individual clip in just the right spot.

 

“They’re not—ah, doesn’t matter. They’re sparkly, right? And they look nice?”  

 

“They do.” Allura ran her fingers through her hair, smiling to herself whenever her finger would catch on a clip. She turned to Lance and reached over to snap the last remaining pink clip onto his hair. He blinked owlishly at her but made no move to pluck it out. Taking a step back, she gave him an appraising glance. “As I suspected—they look nice on you, too.”  

 

“So _now_ am I the coolest?” Lance asked. He peered into the mirror, fighting back a smile as he fussed with his hair.

 

“Still not quite, but you’re getting there,” Allura assured him, patting his head.

 

Lance gave Allura a once-over before darting off again. When he returned, it was with a feathery pink thing in tow.

 

“I think this look only needs one final touch,” Lance announced, shoving the strange accessory into her arms. “A pink boa. It’s very intimidating, and it matches the tiara.” Allura draped it across the back of her neck and tugged at the ends until both sides hung at the same length.  

 

“What about the necklace?” she asked.

 

“I figured you’d want to get a really nice one somewhere else,” Lance said, “but we can find some here too if you want.”

 

“No, I think you’re right—we can save that for later.” Allura twirled around in front of the mirror as she tied and untied the ends of her boa.  

 

“This calls for a selfie.” Lance pulled his communicator out of his pocket and waved it between them. “If that’s alright?”

 

“Oh!” Allura remembered him demonstrating this before with the whole group. “Yes, that would be fine.”

 

Lance held up the communicator and angled the camera towards them. Although he pulled his sunglasses down to cover his eyes, Allura was close enough to see that he was winking. Her brows knitted close together as she tried to make sense of him.

 

“Lance, why are you winking? You’re wearing sunglasses.”

 

“It’s just who I am as a person,” Lance replied, not even missing a beat.

 

Allura wrapped an arm around his back, just above his waist, and tugged them closer together in frame. Lance went stiff as he turned his head towards her, but she couldn’t read his expression with those sunglasses.

 

“Just so—so you can angle it down a bit more,” she said quickly. “To see the rest of the boa. It’s an essential component of the look. Right?”

 

“Right, yeah, of course!” Lance said. He turned back towards the camera and adjusted it to meet her specifications before looking back at her. “Does that work?”  

 

“Yes, I believe that captures everything.”

The two of them beamed at the camera, Allura opting to wink at the last second when she saw that Lance had refused to abandon that strange gesture. The shutter went off six times before Lance pulled his arm down. Allura stepped away, tucking her hair behind her ear. When she looked at him again, the sunglasses were pushed back up.

 

“I must admit, Lance, this hadn’t been what I’d expected when I asked you to accompany me,” Allura said, taking off each piece of jewelry and setting it on the counter. The cashier rang up each item with eyes as dead as dead could be.

 

“And I hadn’t expected you to actually buy all of this,” Lance said, moving to put his sunglasses back on the shelf. Allura snatched them out of his hand and dropped them onto the counter, giving him a look that allowed no room for argument. “Uh, thanks. And I mean, it all looks amazing on you, obviously, _anything_ would, but…”

 

“Oh—is that a space caterpillar?” Allura pointed towards a pile of stuffed animals in a basket right next to the register. Lance reached into the pile for a pink one and squeezed it.

 

“Aw, it’s cute!” Lance made faces at it until Allura made an impatient gesture with her hand, at which point he finally handed it to her. As soon as it was in her grasp, she squeezed it even harder, revealing its capability for squeaking under enough pressure.  

 

“Only 200 GAC,” the cashier droned, not even looking away from the scanner. “Or two for 300.”

 

“I’ll take them!” Allura declared. She reached over Lance to grab a blue one and add it to the pile of accessories. Lance just stared at her with an awestruck expression.

 

–

 

“I _almost_ feel bad for that guy,” Lance said, heaving an exaggerated sigh. Allura hummed noncommittally as she toyed with her new sparkly necklace. It was short and layered, and its colors only revealed themselves when it sparkled. She was excited to wear it at a ball, where the lighting would bring out its full potential.

 

“He was no match for the two of us,” she admitted, “but if he is worthy of such a position, that defeat will merely provide him incentive to improve his bartering skills.” She hadn’t expected that Lance’s charm could be employed in such a way, but combined with her more refined negotiation skills, they’d bought this necklace for half the asking price.  

 

“Hey, do we have any time left?” Lance asked.

 

“If we were needed back at the castle, Coran would have contacted one of us,” Allura said. “So…I suppose we do, for now.”

 

“Can we go to the food court then? I mean, I love Hunk’s cooking and all, but…”

 

Allura turned towards the food court to scan its offerings. It was nice to see so many different species intermingling, even if they were forced to use the currency of the Galra Empire. Food tended to bring people together, no matter the circumstances. It was useful for the sake of diplomacy, but even from this distance, seeing such different people talking and eating together stirred something within her.  

 

“We might as well,” she said. “I’ve never eaten at a place like that before.”

 

“What, really?” Lance glanced between Allura and the food court. “Oh, I guess you… Well, I mean, it’s never that great, but it’s basically part of the mall experience.”

 

“It was brilliant of me to bring you here,” Allura said, surprised by the teasing tone of her own voice. “You seem to know your way around.” Lance faltered for a split second before grinning back at her.

 

“Yeah, I don’t mean to brag, but I’m like, a mall _expert_ ,” he said. “Let’s go, before Coran decides he wants me to clean the healing pods again or something.”

  

–

  

“Are you certain this is edible?” Allura poked at her pile of mystery food with the provided spork. It had a distinct aroma, but that didn’t sway her one way or the other.

 

“Well, it’s gotta be more _interesting_ than food goo, anyway,” Lance said.

 

“ _Interesting_ ,” Allura echoed, wrinkling her nose. When she looked up from her food, she saw that Lance had already begun eating his own selection and was watching her expectantly. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes before taking a bite of her own.

 

“It doesn’t taste very _healthy_ ,” she said, opening her eyes. “But…it’s good.”

 

“Yeah, you gotta give up ‘healthy’ as soon as you walk into a food court, really,” Lance said. “Same with fair food, too. Have you ever been to one of those? Like, with the amusement rides and games and stuff?”

 

“Oh, yes!” Allura clapped her hands together. “I always ate too much Saffa, but it was worth it. My father swore that I’d get sick on the rides, but I never did. Not even once.”

 

“Did Coran go too?” Lance asked. When Allura nodded, Lance leaned forward and waggled his brows at her. “Got any funny stories about him?”

 

“I could write a book filled with embarrassing things that I’ve seen Coran do over the years,” Allura said. “Although, he rarely agrees that they’re embarrassing moments.” She grabbed her soda and took a few long sips, delighting in the way that Lance fidgeted in his seat. “But my favorite fair story was when he tried—key word _tried_ —to win a pet gurglefish for me. My father laughed so hard he cried, until he realized just how much Coran had spent in that endeavor.”

 

“Waitwaitwait.” Lance held up his hands in a “stop” motion, grinning at her. “I need a visual reference here. Did he have his moustache back then?”

 

“Oh yes. He’s had it since before I was born. Now, as I was saying—”

  

–

 

Lance stopped short a few yards away from the escalator. When Allura followed suit and quirked a brow at him, he pointed to a shop called _Area 51_. 

 

“At that other space mall from before, Pidge and I rounded up enough change to get an Earth video game,” he said. “This looks like the same place. Must be a chain or something? But there’s no cow hanging around…”

 

“Ah yes, I remember,” Allura said, frowning. “Isn’t she still trying to create a compatible visual input?”

 

“Yeah, but maybe they have a TV here that she could use. That would save her a lot of trouble.” He rocked back on his heels, glancing at Allura’s pocketbook. “How much money do we have left? I can try fishing for change again if I need to.” He winked at her. “I make a _great_ dolphin, I’ll have you know.” Though Allura had no idea what a dolphin looked like, she imagined the impression was quite a spectacle.

 

“Our negotiation skills from earlier have left us with plenty of GAC left over, so that won’t be necessary, unfortunately,” Allura said, unable to hide the amusement from her voice. As soon as Allura had finished her sentence, Lance started running towards the store. Shaking her head, Allura followed after him.

 

While Lance gathered whatever supplies he needed, Allura took her time wandering around the store. Earth trinkets were so strange and primitive. She crouched down to take a closer look at their bracelets. These ones had circular centers with numbers on them. Watches, perhaps? On Altea, their time-keeping devices were built in with their communication devices, or projected straight from their wrists in the form of a hologram. Something as cumbersome as this could only be found in museums; if such museums still stood today, their watches would have been 15,000 years old. Allura reached over to grab one that had a human girl’s face on the center. Those _ears_ , she couldn’t get over them.

 

When stealth wasn’t the objective, Lance never bothered making his footsteps quiet, so Allura wasn’t startled when she heard his voice over her shoulder.  

 

“Hey, what’re you—oh _wow_ , can I see that?”

 

Allura handed it back to him and rose to her feet. Although she’d seen Lance smile and laugh countless times during this trip, they all paled in comparison to the expression he wore now. It stunned her to silence as he marveled at the archaic piece of machinery.  

 

“Is this…something special?” she asked carefully. It didn’t look like much, even when she squinted at it.

 

“Well, to most people, no,” he said, “but to me…” He cleared his throat. “Or, I guess, to my niece, really.”

 

“You have a niece?” Allura asked, eyes widening. Although Lance often mentioned his family in passing, he’d never provided details to her.

 

“Three, actually! But one is a baby. And two nephews. It’s a big family.” If Allura didn’t know better, she would have assumed that he was hypnotizing himself, dangling the watch at his fingertips and staring at it like that. “Lucia, she…for _some_ reason, she’s—or, I mean, probably still is?” He shook his head. “Uh… Well, anyway, she got really into Dora the Explorer, an old American cartoon that taught basic Spanish to kids. Which is why her obsession was so _weird_.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“Yeah. Most Americans spoke English as their first language back then, so learning Spanish that way was probably helpful. But my family is from Cuba, where Spanish is our main language, so…there wasn’t really anything that Dora could teach Lucia. Except like, y’know, the power of friendship and why stealing is bad.” He chuckled, fiddling with the buttons on the side of the center piece. “I guess it would be more fair to say she was really into the monkey sidekick. That guy had pretty cool boots, I’ll admit.”

 

“So this girl is Dora?” Allura pointed to the face at the center.

 

“Yep.” His expression softened. “Aw, they even have the hours and minutes arrows labeled…”

 

“It’s only 400 GAC,” Allura pointed out. “We’ll have more than enough for it, even after the game supplies.” Lance’s face fell faster than Allura could blink. She shifted her weight. “Do…do you not want it?”

 

“I dunno,” he admitted, shoulders slumped forward. “I mean, we use Altean time measurements now, so even if Pidge could get it working…”

 

“It doesn’t need to be practical to be worth bringing with you,” Allura said gently. The searching gaze that Lance set upon her made her straighten her posture on instinct.  

 

“Ah, what the heck, might as well,” he said, looking away with a shrug. “It goes well with the sunglasses, anyway.”

 

“No, it doesn’t.”

 

“Alright, no it doesn’t, _but_ I’m cool enough to pull it off.”

 

“Oh really.”

 

“Cool as _ice_.”

  

–

 

On the pod trip back, Lance insisted on taking some more selfies—this time with Lance wearing the watch and sunglasses, and Allura wearing just the tiara. They were still laughing as they stumbled out of the pod, whereupon they were greeted by a wide-eyed Coran.

 

“Princess, I thought you were only getting something sparkly,” Coran said, glancing at their bags.

 

“Oh, that’s on me, mostly,” Lance said, lifting his own bag. “I found a TV that Pidge can use to get the game working, and—”

 

“Ooooh, number five will be quite pleased to hear that, excellent work. Alright, that’s one bag. The other one?”

 

“Some other jewelry—by the way, Lance, this one is yours—” Allura pulled out the pink space caterpillar and placed it on Lance’s shoulder, giving it a final squeeze for good luck.

 

“I get the pink one? I thought—” Lance would have denied it, but he was _pouting_.

 

“Yes, you get the pink one,” Allura said, waving a hand dismissively at him.  

 

“And how much GAC do we have left over after this adventure?” Coran asked, giving her pocketbook a pointed look.

 

“Coran, are you really gonna ask us that, after you nearly broke the bank trying to win that iStation?” Lance asked, hands on his hips. Allura felt transfixed by the sight of that pose, but her concentration broke when he scrambled to stop the caterpillar from toppling off his shoulder.  

 

“…fair enough,” Coran said, folding his arms across his chest. “Well, I’m glad you two had a nice time.” He narrowed his eyes as he set his attention on Lance. “You know, my boy, I could use some help cleaning the—” Lance stuffed the caterpillar into his bag and started marching off.

 

“I think I heard Hunk calling me, sorry! Maybe next time!” Lance took one last look at Allura, offering her a warm smile. “Thanks for taking me along, Allura.”

 

There was that _sincerity_ again. Allura rolled her eyes but waved at him as he fled from the hangar. A sort of nervous energy bubbled just beneath her skin, urging her to do _something_. Maybe she could dress up the mice too.  

 

“So, that’s a very nice necklace,” Coran said.

 

“Necklace?” she asked absently, staring at the exit. “Oh! Oh, yes, it’s very nice.” She reached down to adjust it, admiring the way the castle lights showcased its colors. “It’s exactly what I needed.”  

**Author's Note:**

> Check out the original tumblr post [here](http://mustlovelance.tumblr.com/post/164497129579/i-commissioned-clionadraws-again-to-draw-a)! Fanart by the wonderful [clionadraws](http://clionadraws.tumblr.com). Also thanks to [starrylia](http://starrylia.tumblr.com) for help with editing!


End file.
